“CHARLIE”
BETTER THAN MEN
BY
RUSH C. HAWKINS
J. W. BOUTON
TEN WEST TWENTY-EIGHT STREET
NEW YORK
1896
Copyright, 1896, by
J. W. Bouton
TO MY BELOVED AND LOVING WIFE, EVER FAITHFUL AND TRUE, WHOSE GOODNESS PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING
CONTENTS
- Explanatory 1
- The Excursion 13
- Tim, the Dissipated 91
- Carlo, the Soldier 113
- Jeff, the Inquisitive 127
- Toby, the Wise 139
- Two Dogs 149
- Two Innocents Abroad 165
- About Columbus, by an old showman 171
- In Relation to Mysteries 187
- Mysteries 195
EXPLANATORY
The title chosen for the followingsketches, written for the purposeof presenting certain prominentcharacteristics of the lower animalsworthy of the attention of the humananimal, stands for rather a serious propositionwhich may be questioned by amajority of those readers whose kindlyinterest in our mute friends has notalready been seriously awakened.
To write so that those who readmay infer that a certain selected numberof so-called lower animals are better, bynature and conduct, in certain elemental2virtues, than men, is, to say the least,rather imprudent, and to the optimisticstudent of human nature may appearirreverent to an unpardonable degree.Usually, to the minds of such observers,humanity is accepted for its traditionalvalue, regardless of established conditionsor inherent actualities. Such investigatorsinvestigate only one side oftheir subject. They start out handicappedwith the old theory that in everyrespect the human animal is superior toevery other, without attempting toanalyze unseen interior conditions,whether natural or developed.
In relation to natural conditions,the large majority of Christian sects areperfectly logical. They lay down asa clearly established fundamental factthat all human beings, owing to whatthey designate as Adam’s fall, are borninto this worl